


i will show you fear in a handful of dust

by the_crownless_queen



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (my writing gets weird when I'm sleep deprived but I couldn't let go of this idea), Tatooine legend, and that's more important, because Tatooine isn't nice, but it's about hope, this isn't exactly a nice story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:14:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6136315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crownless_queen/pseuds/the_crownless_queen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>there's this legend every slave knows on Tatooine, about a boy who became one with the storm and crushed his master</p><p>(they say he's still out there, waiting to be called)</p>
            </blockquote>





	i will show you fear in a handful of dust

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't sleep last night and this kind of wrote itself... But I had fun with it.  
> This story probably would never have happened if I hadn't read Fialleril's stuff, which is always amazing and that you should definitely check out at some point if you haven't already.
> 
> Title is from TS Eliot's The Waste Land.

There's this legend on Tatooine that every slaves knows. The story differs a little from one storyteller to another, but the gist of it stays the same.  
  
One day, a master beat up one of his slaves and left him to die in the sand storm that was coming.

_(it was a terrible way to die, but the master felt it was just, for the slave had failed to carry out his demands)_

_(something frightening about this: this master is every master)_

The slave was but a child, and he had dreams. He couldn't die before he fulfilled them, before he freed every other slave like him.

_(freedom was a foreign concept to one born in chains, but since when had that stopped a child from dreaming?)_

There was a fire in his soul, and it burned so bright that when the storm came, it was loath to smother it.

"my child," the desert whispered instead, for every slave on Tatooine knows that the desert is their kin, their parent, the one they always go back to in the end, "let me help you."

And the child was fearful, of course he was, because anyone who hasn't learned to fear the nature of their planet by the time they can walk won't stay on it for long, but he remembered what his mother had told him once.

 _The desert is neither kind nor fair, dear boy, but it is ours, and no master can take that away from us_ , she had whispered to him before imparting him with another one of their secrets, the one no master should ever be privy to.  _The desert knows how to give to those who know how to ask_ , she had said, but then she had refused to explain her words any further.

"and what do you want in return?" The boy asked, thinking that maybe this was what his mother had tried to tell him that day, because even though he was still young he already knew better than to believe anything would ever come with no strings attached.

The desert laughed - it was not a kind sound. No, it was the sound of sharp winds reshaping the dunes, of sand whipping at your skin until it turned raw.

_(it was majestic - it was beautiful)_

"clever child," the winds whispered, " I would only ask for your strength until this storms ends."

"you seem to have plenty of that already," the child replied bravely as he struggled to stand despite his wounds, " while I have so little left."

"there are different kinds of strength," the storm seemed to murmur, " and your spirit is what I need. It burns with a fire I lack." And then it added, almost amused, " fear not, you'll get it back."

"and in return for my spirit, what will you do for me?"

The desert's answer sounded almost proud. "in return for your spirit, I will help you save my children from you master. As long as my winds rage and my dusts block out the sky, your master will know no peace."

"then you have a deal," the child agreed, and he spat unto the sand, for on Tatooine the only way to seal a deal was with water.

For a moment the storm and the boy stilled, and when they started moving again they were no longer two separate entities, but rather a single one, made of flesh and bones and storm.

The storm-boy raged for three days and three nights, and when they stopped the only remains of the master's riches were dust and sand on the ground.

_(from dust you came, to dust you shall return, said the whispers on the wind)_

On the first night the master was safe, and the winds raged against the walls of his house.

On the second night the master was safe, and the sand chipped away at the stones of his home.

On the third night the master thought himself safe, and that's when the winds moved.

_(you can't stop the wind forever)_

_(you can't cage a storm)_

On the third night the storm came to the master's doors and asked to be let in, and when it was, blades of sand to sharp they could cut through stone sliced at the master until he was more flesh than man.

_(the desert is never kind, but it is always thirsty, and blood is the sweetest treat of them all)_

The storm left the boy among his other children so that he could teach them how to be free (because no one was freer than the storm in the desert, and now the boy could say he knew the meaning of the word freedom), and it went back to sleep until it was needed again.

The boy tried - for years he tried - and yes, he succeeded some.

But he had had a taste of the storm, of the thirst of the desert, and that wasn't a thirst that could be easily quenched.

One day, he just left and vanished among the dunes.

_(they say if you listen closely you can still hear him at night in the desert, howling on the wind)_

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/the-crownless-queen


End file.
